The backpack is not so overpowering anymore for Emily. In a few days it will be heavy and full of all sorts of schoolwork.

This year is Emily’s fourth grade year. She is in the top grade of her school.

Emily’s teacher from first grade moved to fourth grade after Emily had her and to our joy they are reunited again this year. To prepare the students for middle school the grade will be swapping teachers for subjects and Ms. Harris will be Emily’s homeroom and English teacher. She will be great!

Julia’s backpack is still a bit big for her, but it will not be long for her to make it look smaller. She seems to be growing up a lot these days.

Second grade is big stuff around here. Julia is very excited about her new year and is excited for the new things she will learn this year. She has a new “purse” that she will likely be wearing daily.

Julia has Ms Racey for a teacher. She is the same teacher that Emily had for second grade and Mama worked a lot in the classroom. We are all excited to have her another year. She is known for her floating Lego people in the hand sanitizer. It is a fun classroom.

We wanted to take the girls to see the Biltmore house. What girl wouldn’t want to see a real castle. In addition we recently read a fictional story that takes place at the house at the turn of the century. We wanted to see the house details that were in the story. Our tour time was for the afternoon and we arrived with time to see a storm brewing close by. To our great luck the rain did not start until we entered the home and it ended before we exited the home.

Nothing shows the grandness of the house more than the scale of each room and space.

The spaces inside and out were decorated with beautiful plants and flowers.

Watch out where you go, you might find a lion that will sneeze on you. There is a family photo of the Vanderbilts around this lion with Mr. V sitting on top of the statue. It was great to see that they lived and loved their house as a home and did not treat it only as a museum. The pair of lions were referenced in the story we read so we needed our own family photo by one.

The house was amazing! Not that we didn’t expect to be impressed, but the grandness was evident in every room. One special gift for us was that someone played the pipe organ while we visited the first floor. The music moved into the rooms we were in just like we were in the same room as the organ. Our favorites were (Robby) the library, (Emily) the library and Mrs. Vanderbilt’s Room, (Julia) the whole house, and (Rachelle) the billiard room.

The house was to be lived in and enjoyed. It had its own bowling alley. Maybe one day there will be a tour that allows people to play a bit.

The stairway was inside and built into the outside. Two of each window sets were “doors” that could open and allow access to the balcony outside and allow fresh air into the house when needed. What cool detail.

Part of the “working” farm included sunflowers planted along a crop line.